Client
- Client
- The Challenge
- Discover
- Design
- Deliver
- Testimonial
Client
Temple & Webster is Australia’s leading online retailer of furniture and homewares.
The Challenge
Temple & Webster faced significant operational and cultural challenges due to rapid growth and a fragmented real estate portfolio. The new Sydney head office was to be a place where people could thrive, collaborate and connect.
Key challenges included:
- Cultural disconnection: Dispersion across five locations risked weakening the company’s distinctive team culture and community spirit.
- Workplace magnetism: The new HQ needed to entice people back post-COVID, creating a dynamic and engaging environment.
- Future-proofing space requirements: The design had to accommodate long-term growth and evolving work styles, while positioning Temple & Webster as an employer of choice.
- Operational complexity: Consolidating five separate sites into one required strategic planning to ensure a seamless transition.
Discover
The strategy centred on three key objectives: draw people back to the office, attract and retain top talent and set Temple & Webster up for long-term success. This included a strong focus on workplace retention strategies and a scalable workplace strategy that supported future growth.
Key strategic actions included:
- Early value integration: Assisting with landlord negotiations and integrating the fit-out with major base build works already in motion, providing expert support and ensuring maximum return on investment.
- People-centric insight: Conducting employee interviews to determine the key challenges facing the team, ensuring the design remained central to the evolving needs of the business.
The shared purpose was to deliver a comfortable, future-proof space that supported collaboration, energy and nourishment for a company on a rapid growth trajectory.
Design
Design partner: Alkimi Studio
The design was guided by the ‘Greenhouse’ concept, creating an environment that provides all the essential elements for growth, including energy, diversity, nourishment and support.
Set inside a former railway shed, the design respects the building’s historic architecture, leaving existing cranes and gantries to serve as striking features. The cohesion of earthy materials, particularly timber, creates a warm, comfortable and inviting aesthetic.
Key design features include:
- Communal core: Positioned at the heart of the office, the vast central kitchen area acts as a communal space where employees can socialise and attend company events.
- Flexible work zones: Desks and workstations are intentionally mixed among couches, area rugs, poufs and coffee tables to create a relaxed, welcoming feel. While desks are assigned, a range of casual meeting spaces and collaboration zones allow for flexibility.
- Cultural naming: Paying homage to Temple & Webster’s Australian roots, all meeting and conference rooms are named after notable Australian furniture designers.
- Wellbeing spaces: A significant portion of the floorplan was dedicated to a spacious wellness room. Surrounded by linen curtains, this room provides a calm, safe space for the team to relax and recharge.
Deliver
Spaceful owned the project management and delivery for Temple & Webster’s new headquarters, working closely with the design team at Alkimi Studio.
The key focus of the delivery was ensuring the integration of the works with the major base build, while protecting the original heritage features of the railway shed. Spaceful’s project management ensured the sustainable and complex fit-out was completed efficiently and safely.
- Collaborative approach: Spaceful managed the complex delivery process, ensuring all parties, including Temple & Webster, the design partner, and base build contractors, were aligned, safeguarding the return on investment.
- Heritage integration: The delivery process carefully preserved the existing cranes and gantries, turning them into permanent design features within the functional workspace.
- Sustainable execution: The completed headquarters is a sustainable, leading-edge building that meets Temple & Webster’s vision for long-term success.
Testimonial -
"Spaceful projected a sense of a safe pair of hands. We really wanted a partner that would help us with things like landlord negotiations. Spaceful was very good at giving advice about what to negotiate, including landlord works and the make good clause, and they really held our hands through the entire process.
Landlord, tenant, builder, landlord's builder, fit out, designer - it's quite complicated. I was surprised at the role that Spaceful played bringing all those parties together."
— Mark Coulter CEO and Co-Founder at Temple & Webster
